Dwight Howard, shown playing against Andrew Bynum in Orlando's January victory over the Lakers, requested a trade to Brooklyn, but the Nets instead agreed to a blockbuster trade for Atlanta guard Joe Johnson.

Even if Dwight Howard, left, is no longer asking to join the Lakers, the Lakers should make the bold trade for the Orlando Magic center now.

Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum react after losing 103-100 to the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game Four of the Western Conference Semifinals on May 19.

Dwight Howard smiles during the game against the Miami Heat on March 13.

With all the relatively unimportant players who might be coming and all the anticipation about Pau Gasol going, only one transaction truly changes everything for the Lakers.

The lingering stale air of championship satisfaction, the stink from the Chris Paul trade hangover, the sense that uncrowned Mike Brown can’t connect deeply with his stars … it would all be replaced by a new energy, even if it’s a little unstable, by now making the trade of Andrew Bynum for Dwight Howard.

For sure, Howard isn’t clamoring to come to the Lakers at the moment and isn’t banking on the road here turning everything to gold.

It’s just as well. The too-complacent Lakers have had enough assumptions lately.

Their titles are in the past, and they’ve felt the sting of the first strike from Oklahoma City with the promise of many more to come. There is no reason for anyone to come here and expect everything, including championships, to take care of itself.

It’s time for the Lakers to get back to the pioneer spirit that brought Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal together and enabled the Lakers’ brass to hold but not fold when Bryant was so frustrated he was bouncing off the planets before pulling the Gasol trade on the river.

The Lakers need a healthy dose of gambling’s fear to bring out the best in them – and the prospect of trading for Howard and losing him for nothing in a year is certainly plenty scary.

But the reality is that there are benefits awaiting the Lakers even in that worst-case scenario that could easily be explained by Dwight again being a loon who fails to listen to reason: What can you do if the goofy dude walks away from far more money from the Lakers because he wants to dress up like a cowboy in Dallas or curl all the way up into the fetal position in hometown Atlanta?

The Lakers are already absolutely opposed to paying monster salaries to Bryant, Gasol and Bynum in 2014-15, so even if it’s just Bryant and Gasol (or whomever Gasol is traded for) left in 2013-14, the Lakers get a head start on major change and their necessary evil of getting under the luxury-tax plateau.

The Lakers are already determined to avoid paying the overwhelming repeater tax that comes into play in this post-lockout NBA era in 2014-15 if clubs paid luxury tax in 2012, ’13 and ’14. The Lakers will curtail player spending in 2014-15, one way or another, but it’s actually a pretty easy and sensible transition if Howard re-signs after next season with the knowledge that he’ll be the cornerstone of the league’s glamour franchise in 2014, when Bryant’s and Gasol’s contracts expire and Howard is still only 28.

In the more immediate future, the Lakers get a new vibe without Bynum’s know-it-all assuredness and with Howard determined above all to re-establish his good-guy image. The best way to do so? Play great and win big, which the Lakers would do with Gasol reclaiming his standing as the offensive creator in the low post and Howard’s incomparable defense accentuating Brown’s greatest coaching skill.

For how many ill-conceived decisions Howard has made in a rather sad testament to how trying to be loved isn’t half as fulfilling as loving, he has become completely underrated – at a time when Bynum’s value has never been higher or healthier.

Back before Bynum’s All-Star last season, I wrote: “The Lakers’ sweet spot for trading the still-blooming Bynum is out there somewhere. It’s not here yet.”

In that same column was this: “I love CP3 and believe completely that he is a truly special gamer. He has more winning character in his bad left knee than Dwight Howard has in his whole cartoonish body. Yet there’s still no way you can pick Paul over Howard.”

Let’s put it this way now: Paul, 27, is a crazy feisty and brilliant little man. Howard, 26, is already one of the greatest centers in NBA history.

The Lakers’ real plan in December (and it looks as if the retooling Atlanta Hawks are now thinking the same thing for next summer) was to pair Howard with Paul after first going small by trading Gasol and Lamar Odom. Who knows if the second shoe would’ve dropped perfectly into place had David Stern not untied the first one, but the reality is that Howard is truly the bigger catch: He is the only one in the game who can compare to LeBron James as a physical marvel.

Jim Buss’ first days in his job featured follies that the Lakers would scoop up James, Yao Ming or Amar’e Stoudemire via free agency to play with Bryant. Even though all three superstars re-signed with their teams back then, it was an indication of how big the junior Buss does dream.

Landing Howard now after the Brooklyn Nets finally tired of waiting for both Howard and the Magic is the sort of bold stroke artfully turned time and time again by Jerry Buss, the Lakers’ owner whose health has been very poor recently. A visionary, however, isn’t needed here to identify the benefits for both sides.

Trading Howard for a bunch of expiring contracts or unspectacular potential, mostly what everyone but the Lakers is offering, is hardly the means to renewing any optimism in Orlando. And it was clear from new Orlando general manager Rob Hennigan’s tone during a news conference Monday that he appreciates his community’s need to move forward as soon as possible with players who are committed to the cause and understand winning.

For all his quirks, Bynum does know what it takes, has no qualms about leaving the Lakers and is sincerely eager for a team to call his own. He is predisposed to knee injuries, but he is getting his second consecutive healthy summer to build himself up. He already became the bona fide best other center in basketball – and one who happens to be two years younger and in a contract situation to commit right now long-term to Orlando, precisely what Howard would not do.

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.